In the Land of Demons in the far west, Shinji selected a secluded valley rarely visited by humans and released the God Tree from within his body.
Then he flew to the top of the God Tree, gently stroking the budding flower bud at the apex, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.
His harvest in World No. 2 this time could be described as bountiful.
After this absorption, his own God Tree had already stored enough energy required to condense the next 'Chakra Fruit'. It was only lacking an Otsutsuki sacrifice to begin nurturing the 'Chakra Fruit'.
This was also the reason why the God Tree inside Shinji became restless and generated the impulse to devour Owl as soon as Shinji saw him earlier!
As for the Small Ten-Tails seized from Isshiki Otsutsuki, after being nourished by the energy of World No. 4 and World No. 2, it had also matured and entered the maturity stage where it could nurture a 'Chakra Fruit'.
The reason for such a great harvest was, firstly, that the Hegemon destroyed the spatial barriers of the worlds and disintegrated the worlds' will to resist, allowing the God Tree to absorb the planet's core energy more easily. Secondly, Shinji had gained quite a lot of insight and experience in planting God Trees, which further improved the efficiency of the God Trees in absorbing planetary energy.
Right now, both God Trees in Shinji's hands were mature, and one of them was fully charged with the energy needed to nurture a 'Chakra Fruit'. The only thing lacking was an Otsutsuki sacrifice.
"Sacrifice..."
Shinji muttered.
Currently, he had two candidates on hand who could serve directly as sacrifices. One was Urashiki Otsutsuki, locked in the temporary cell of the Flying Fortress, and the other was Owl, locked in the alien dimension.
Of the two sacrifice candidates, one was a 'Kekkei Mora', and the other mastered the Shinjutsu 'Conversion'. Feeding either directly to the God Tree would actually be somewhat of a loss.
This was the reason for Shinji's hesitation.
However, Owl was an experimental subject created by the Research Institute and could be mass-produced. Compared to Urashiki Otsutsuki, a genuine Otsutsuki, Owl's scarcity was much lower. The only thing to care about was the Shinjutsu 'Conversion' mastered by Owl.
"Regardless of whether Owl can master 'Karma' in three days, I must dispose of him!"
After weighing the options, Shinji made a decision.
Owl must be disposed of; there was no doubt about this. Otherwise, anyone would dare to follow suit, rebel, and defect in the future.
As for Owl's Shinjutsu 'Conversion', if Owl could master 'Karma' and use it to transfer the Shinjutsu 'Conversion' out, that would naturally be the best result. But if Owl couldn't master 'Karma', Shinji could only abandon the Shinjutsu 'Conversion'.
Because time waits for no one. After devouring World No. 2, the Hegemon would soon act on one of the remaining World No. 3, World No. 5, or World No. 6.
Shinji's own God Tree was already full of planetary energy. If he didn't nurture a 'Chakra Fruit' to consume this planetary energy, it would be impossible to continue absorbing planetary energy. In this way, he could only use one God Tree to compete with the Hegemon for planetary energy.
This seemed okay; Shinji could still continue snatching food from the tiger's mouth.
But don't forget that such opportunities were actually rare. Once he missed this god-given opportunity with the World Annihilation Society, it would be difficult to find another chance to snatch food from the Hegemon. After all, feeding the God Tree was not an easy task. Normal planting often required waiting for hundreds or thousands of years.
Therefore, the remaining World No. 3, World No. 5, and World No. 6 of the World Annihilation Society were currently the only channels for Shinji to quickly obtain planetary energy. And these three worlds would likely be destroyed one after another within the next seven to eight months. Once this time window was missed, Shinji would lose the ability to quickly obtain 'Chakra Fruits'.
Thus, under these circumstances, experimental subjects that could be mass-produced, even if possessing Shinjutsu, could only become sacrifices first.
Three days passed in a flash.
Shinji arrived at the alien dimension as scheduled and saw Owl with a fawning face.
Shinji asked, "Have you mastered the method of using 'Karma'?"
Owl stepped forward and flattered, "I never expected you to master such a magical method. Compared to 'Karma', my Shinjutsu is simply worthless."
Shinji glanced coldly at Owl.
Seeing that Shinji didn't buy it, Owl hurriedly nodded, "Please rest assured, I have learned the method to cast 'Karma'."
"Oh?"
Shinji was somewhat surprised.
He had prepared to treat a dead horse as a living horse (try a desperate measure), but unexpectedly, a mere bandit actually mastered 'Karma' within three days. This couldn't help but make him suspect whether the Shinjutsu was silently changing Owl while he awakened it.
Words were no proof. Shinji took out a sealed White Zetsu, threw it to Owl, and instructed, "Since you have learned the method of using 'Karma', use 'Karma' to inject your Shinjutsu into this White Zetsu!"
Shinji had no intention of bearing Owl's 'Karma' himself or letting others bear it. He remained extremely vigilant about Shinjutsu, or rather, the power of Shibai Otsutsuki. So he wanted to use the White Zetsu's body to temporarily store Owl's 'Karma'.
Because as long as 'Karma' wasn't liberated, acting purely as a storage container, a White Zetsu clone was competent.
Hearing Shinji's order, a trace of resentment flashed in Owl's eyes as he lowered his head, thinking to himself, "Just wait. As long as I survive, I will definitely take revenge for this!"
With Shinji's current insight, the natural expressions on Owl's face and in his eyes couldn't possibly escape his notice. So Shinji was crystal clear about Owl's thoughts, but he didn't care. After all, there was no need to be serious with a dead man.
Under Shinji's gaze, Owl helplessly transferred his Shinjutsu to the White Zetsu clone in the form of 'Karma'.
After finishing, the fawning expression returned to his face, "My Lord, I have transferred the Shinjutsu to this White Zetsu clone. I wonder when we will return to the Research Institute?"
Shinji checked the 'Karma' on the White Zetsu clone and indeed sensed the aura of Shinjutsu on it, so he nodded, "Very good!"
"It is my honor to serve you!"
Owl bowed and scraped, lowering his posture extremely.
Now that he had lost the Shinjutsu and his chakra volume was significantly reduced due to the splitting of 'Karma', his combat power had severely declined, making him less confident.
After throwing the White Zetsu clone into the static space of 'Daikokuten', Shinji waved his hand and opened a space portal.
Seeing this, Owl was overjoyed. After getting Shinji's permission, he stepped impatiently into the space portal.
However, after passing through the space portal, Owl discovered he didn't return to the Research Institute, but arrived atop a towering giant tree...